Don't Touch My Family
by Casey Storm
Summary: Something is really wrong with Chase. His family must pull together to find a cure, but they can't even figure out what is wrong with him. And who is the person behind this whole mess? Can they stop him before more damage is done? (No ships, no OCs)
1. Mission Alert

**A/N:** **Enjoying the Lab Rats series so much, I decided to write a fanfic for it. This story doesn't fit into the series' timeline very well. It takes place sometime after Douglas moved into the mansion. But for the sake of this story, you have to pretend nothing from the episode _"You Post What?!"_** **ever happened. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Mission Alert**

Chase walked out of his science classroom and headed down the stairs toward Mission Creek High School's main hall. He was supposed to meet his siblings by the water fountain so they could all walk home together. But first he headed to his locker to retrieve his backpack. This had been a very good day so far and he'd even managed to finish his extra-credit project on time, despite having to go on three different missions over the last few days. If nothing went wrong, this could end up being a perfect day.

Three shadows loomed up around him and Chase turned to see Trent with two of his henchmen standing over him. Okay, so it _almost_ ended up a perfect day.

"Hey, Trent," Chase greeted the bully in as casual a tone as he could. It was always hard to tell what kind of a mood the guy was in. "What's up?"

Trent stepped forward and glared down at Chase. "What were you thinking in Math class?" he asked. "We would have gotten away with no homework today if you hadn't reminded the teacher to assign it!"

"Hey, it's still the new teacher's first week," Chase said. "I figured he was just preoccupied and forgot." Chase kept forgetting that normal kids don't actually like homework.

"Yeah, well now I have to complete these assignments _and_ still make football practice this afternoon. How am I supposed to get both done?"

A sharp beeping sound made Chase look down at his watch. It was on a subsonic frequency that normal humans couldn't hear, but his bionic hearing picked up on it immediately. Glancing at the "watch" on his wrist, he saw that the screen was lighting up red. That meant a mission alert.

"Hey," Trent said sharply. "Don't ignore me while I'm talking."

Chase looked over at the office door marked "PRINCIPAL" and, for once in his life, actually hoped that Principal Perry would come out. He needed to get back to the lab quickly and didn't have time to deal with Trent right now.

"Hey, Trent," he started to say, "I'm kinda busy right now, so could you..."

Before he could finish, Trent stepped closer and shoved Chase back against the wall of lockers, using his arm to keep the smaller teenager pinned against the wall. "Maybe you should just do my homework for me; since it was your idea in the first place."

Chase glanced around and saw that there weren't many people in the general vacinity. Normally he wouldn't take a chance on using his bionics at school, but he figured this counted as an emergency. Making sure that no one was watching, he used his molecular kinesis to loudly open the principal's door.

One of Trent's sidekicks heard the door open and whispered urgently, "Trent, let's get out of here. Perry is coming!"

Trent frowned but he still let go of Chase and stepped away. "I'll catch you later," he warned before taking off with his two companions.

Chase sighed in relief and, grabbing his backpack, headed for the door. He was certain no one had seen him use his bionic ability and it had helped him get to the mission faster, so he figured that it was completely justified. What harm could it cause?


	2. Something's Wrong

**Chapter 2: Something's Wrong**

Leo and Mr. Davenport were waiting in the lab when the team arrived back from their mission. As usual, Adam was already congratulating himself on a job well done.

Leo ran over and high-fived Adam victoriously. "Yeah, we did it!"

" _We_?" Bree repeated skeptically.

"Well, as your official Mission Consultant, I feel we should share the glory with you lowly ground troops," Leo teased. "But if you'd rather let us take all the credit, I'm fine with that. After all, I like to think of myself as the brains behind the team."

"Yeah right," Bree laughed.

"Okay," Davenport interrupted. "You guys did a great job on this mission. The nuclear reactor is safely neutralized and you managed to keep from blowing anything up this time."

"Yeah, that last part was a bit of a disappointment," Adam said. "But I figured I could make up for that after we got home."

"Tasha is upstairs, and she just redecorated," Davenport warned him. "So I think you'd better keep your destructive tendencies at check until she leaves to visit her mother next week."

"Fine," Adam sighed. "Then let's go eat dinner."

"Change out of your mission suits first," Davenport reminded them.

Adam and Bree led the way to their capsules and had the doors closed in only a second. Chase, who was lagging a bit behind, was the last one to climb into his center capsule before Davenport hit the button to activate the changing sequence. The teens emerged in their everyday clothes and the group headed towards the elevator.

Davenport noticed that Chase was unusually quiet and asked him, "Hey, Chase, you feeling okay?"

It took Chase a second to realize he'd been spoken to. He quickly said, "Yeah, Mr. Davenport, I'm fine. Just a little tired I guess."

Davenport looked at him doubtfully. It wasn't characteristic of Chase to be either quiet or slow, but he decided not to press the issue. "Just make sure you get to bed early tonight, then," he said before joining the others on the elevator. Glancing back at Chase, he asked, "You coming?"

"Yeah," Chase said. "I'll be up in a minute. I just want to check on something."

As soon as the elevator doors had closed, Chase walked back into the main lab area and headed for the capsule control panel. He set the controls to run a diagnostic check and then stepped inside his capsule to let the machine scan him. Stepping back out, he went over to the cyber-desk and pulled up a holographic display showing the scan's results. According to the computer, all of his bionics were functioning correctly.

And yet, he didn't feel right. It wasn't that he felt sick, just _slow_. It was like his brain wasn't running at the same speed as his body. Chase had always been proud of his super-human intelligence and super-senses. It was weird to feel like this. There was almost a constant cloudy feeling in his mind, keeping him from using part of his computer-like brain.

"I'm probably just tired," he tried to convince himself.

Chase deactivated the cyber-desk and headed for the elevator. According to the computer, there was nothing wrong with him. He would probably feel all better by morning...

* * *

Bree woke up the next morning with a groan. Since today wasn't a school day, she and Leo had stayed up late the night before watching a movie marathon on tv. But, even when they didn't have school to go to, they still needed to get up early for their daily training excercises. Mr. Davenport was always very strict when it came to their training.

Rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes, Bree looked out the glass walls of her capsule at the lab. The bright overhead lights were already turned on, which meant that it was almost time for their training session to begin. Eddy - the computer that acted as a combination home security system and housekeeper - always got the lab up and running before Mr. Davenport arrived each morning.

"Rise and shine, boys," she called to the other two. She heard Adam mumble something in response.

Bree glanced casually over at their capsules right before stepping out of her own - and she immediately froze in her tracks. Chase was slumped on the floor of his capsule, unconscious.

"Adam!" she called urgently, running out of her capsule. She hurried to the center capsule and flung open the door. "Adam," she called again. "Come help me over here. I think Chase is hurt."

That was all Adam needed to hear before he burst out of his own capsule and shoved Bree aside. He grabbed his younger brother and laid him down on the floor just outside the capsules. "Chasey, get up," Adam pleaded in a worried voice. Turning to Bree, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Bree admitted. She called over to the wall monitor, "Eddy, get Mr. Davenport down here immediately."

For once, the computer didn't argue with her. He sent the message upstairs to where the others were eating breakfast and in less than a minute Davenport came rushing into the lab, followed closely by Leo and Douglas.

"Chase!" Davenport exclaimed, seeing the teen laying so lifelessly on the floor. He rushed over and began checking Chase's vital signs. Looking up at Bree, he asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know," Bree said. "We woke up and found him unconscious."

"Is he okay?" Leo asked.

Davenport shook his head and looked over at Douglas in concern. "I don't think he's breathing."

* * *

 **A/N: So, what do you think so far? Please leave a review to let me know what you thought, or to give tips on how to improve this. Thank you!**


	3. Diagnostic

**A/N: First, I want to thank everyone who has read, favorited, and/or followed this story. Thank you all SO much! This is my first fanfiction story, so I really appreciate it. And a special thank you to Dirtkid123, Who Doesn't Like Reading Grrr, EmotionalDreamer101, Teeloganroryflan, Unknowndiva (your stories are AWESOME btw!), MKLG, and LoveShipper for taking the time to review my first two chapters.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Diagnostic**

Adam carried Chase up to the living room couch and set him down as gently as he could. He didn't understand what was happening, but he knew that his little brother was in trouble. That knowledge was enough to make Adam behave himself without anyone needing to tell him.

The Davenport brothers had performed CPR on him down in the lab. As soon as they were sure that Chase was breathing enough, they'd asked Adam to take him upstairs and make him comfortable. So far, though, he hadn't regained consciousness.

Downstairs, Douglas was checking all three capsules just to make sure there wasn't some problem with them that would cause what had happened. While he did that, Donald checked his cyber-desk for all recent entries on Chase's memory chip. He was hoping something might give him a clue as to what had gone wrong.

"Well," Douglas said. "I've checked all three capsules and nothing is wrong with them. So Chase was already affected with something else _before_ he went to sleep last night."

"That makes sense," Donald nodded. "I noticed he was acting strange, but I thought he'd just had a bad day at school or something."

"Did you find anything on the kid's memory files?"

"Yeah," Donald said. "Come look at this."

Douglas walked over to the cyber-desk to see what his older brother was pointing at.

Donald pulled up a file from the previous night. "See? According to this, Chase ran a diagnostic last night right after they returned from the mission. But the computer found nothing wrong with his bionics at that time."

"What about a non-bionic problem?" Douglas asked. "Like a regular sickness?"

Donald shook his head. "No, he was completely healthy. I wonder if he was exposed to anything on that mission that would be hurting him now."

"I don't think so," Douglas said. "His capsule would have alerted us if there was any kind of radiation poisoning on him."

"Well, let's go upstairs and see how he's doing."

They took the elevator up to the living room and found Tasha, Leo, Bree, and Adam all gathered around the couch where Chase was now sitting up and apparently conscious.

"He just woke up," Tasha told Donald as he walked over. "We were just about to ask Eddy to call you."

"Thanks," Donald told his wife. Looking down at Chase, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

Chase groaned. "My head is killing me."

"You were without oxygen for a couple minutes," Donald explained. "Now, what happened?"

"I don't know," Chase said. He looked around foggily as if still trying to figure out where exactly he was. "I- I don't remember."

"Were you feeling sick when you came back from the mission?"

Chase thought about the question a minute before nodding his head. "I felt really tired and disoriented. But the computer told me I was fine."

"Well, I'm making it recheck the results of that scan," Davenport told him. "And I want to run a new set of tests once you're feeling up to it."

"I feel a lot better now," Chase said. "My head still hurts, but other than that I'm fine."

"We'd better make sure just in case," Douglas said from where he was standing next to Adam. "We want to be certain that your bionics are all working properly."

Chase nodded. "We can run those tests now if you want. I feel much better."

"Good," Davenport said. He would feel much more relieved as soon as the computer could confirm that nothing serious was wrong. "Adam, could you help him down to the lab so we can check him out?"

"No problem," Adam said, grabbing his brother's shoulders and helping him towards the elevator. "Do I still have to be careful with him?"

"Yes!" Davenport said firmly.

Adam sighed in disappointment. "Okay, fine."

They ran a complete diagnostic as soon as they reached the lab and the results were all fine, so they moved to the next step and began testing Chase's bionic reflexes. Adam loved helping with that part. He fired his laser vision but Chase managed to dodge every beam; he next tried releasing a full charge of his energy blast, but again Chase blocked that with his force field. Everything seemed to be checking out okay.

"Alright," Davenport said, making notes on his tablet. "Chase, I want you to activate your magnetism app."

Chase did as he was told and managed to successfully control a dozen different metal objects at once. His laser-bow was also working fine and they had him test his override app on Adam - which helped him get back at his older brother for being overzealous during the reflex tests.

"This is so weird," Davenport said to his brother. "I can't find anything wrong at all."

"Maybe it wasn't anything to worry about," Douglas shrugged.

"Then is it okay to go to school on Monday?" Chase asked anxiously. "Please, I have a chemistry test that day that I really can't miss." Adam rolled his eyes at that remark.

"I don't know," Davenport said doubtfully. "It was only a few hours ago that you weren't breathing. We'll keep an eye on you over the weekend and see how things go. But that means you need to stick around the house for today and tomorrow. Understand?"

"Yes," Chase said. He was disappointed to have to hang around all weekend, but he really hated missing school days. "Okay, I promise to stay here."

"Good," Douglas said. "Then let's get back upstairs. Everyone else is probably worried."

"Yeah, and I'm hungry," Adam added. "I still haven't had breakfast yet."

* * *

The rest of that day went without mishap and so did the next. By Monday, the incident had been shrugged off as a bizarre but apparently non-threatening occurence. Chase had permission to go to school, but he'd been warned to come home if he felt at all strange.

Mr. Davenport finished his business meeting at Davenport Industries early and came home to find all three boys playing a video game in the living room. He walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee before heading towards the elevator. He had a half-finished project in the lab that he wanted to work on.

A sudden loud thud from behind him made him turn around to see Chase lying on the floor halfway between the living room and kitchen, completely unconscious. He'd apparently been on his way to the kitchen to get a snack and had just passed out.

Davenport rushed to his side immediately and turned Chase over to feel his heartbeat. It was there, but it was beating way faster than normal. His pulse was also too rapid and his breathing was shallow and thin. Davenport knew he needed to do something - and fast.

* * *

 **A/N: So yeah, not the most exciting chapter - but don't worry, the story will get a lot more interesting during the next few chapters. Thank you for reading and I would really appreciate your thoughts/suggestions on the story so far and any tips that could help me improve it.**

 **NEXT CHAPTER: "What's Wrong With Chase?" will hopefully be posted by tomorrow**


	4. What's Wrong With Chase?

**A/N: Thank you so much for all the support and encouragement! You guys are so amazing!**

 **Special thanks to LoveShipper, Unknowndiva, Dirtkid123, Teeloganroryflan, and EmotionalDreamer101. Your really thoughtful reviews mean so much!**

 **As for this chapter, I tried to research CPR and medical information as much as I could but the websites I checked were extremely uninformative. So, huge apologies for any inaccuracies in this story.**

 **(P.S. I corrected the spelling of the Triton app in this chapter. Thankyou Dirtkid123 and Airforce1990 for letting me know the correct spelling)**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: What's Wrong With Chase?**

"Big D, what's wrong?" Leo asked anxiously from the couch. He and Adam had paused their game as soon as they saw what had happened.

"I don't know," Davenport answered. He felt Chase's forehead and noticed that it was unusually warm, almost feverish. "Help me get him to the couch."

"Should we call a hospital?" Leo asked, getting up to help.

"We can't. One X-Ray would reveal to the doctors that Chase is bionic."

"But we need to do something," Leo said.

"I know," Davenport said. "Get Douglas to come help me here."

While Leo ran off to find the younger Davenport brother, Adam hovered over the couch area, trying to keep a close eye on his sibling. Strangely, Chase's condition hadn't changed - either better or worse - over the last minute or two. He hadn't stirred either.

Davenport lay a wet washcloth on Chase's forehead to help cool it and then he ran a miniature scanner over the teen. The reading came back that all of his bionics were functioning properly. An idea suddenly occured to Davenport and he quickly performed a new scan, this time checking for bionic activity.

"That's weird," he said, looking at the scanner's results.

"What's weird?" Adam asked.

"According to this, several of Chase's apps are running right now. His area scanner, GPS locater, and satellite connections are all running."

"So?"

"So, Chase shouldn't be running those tasks if he's unconcious," Davenport said. "It might be some kind of glitch brought on by whatever is wrong with him. I'm going to wirelessly turn off those apps from my computer." He hurried over to the laptop he'd left on the kitchen counter and established a wireless connection to Chase's bionic chip. He quickly shut off all the apps that were running.

"Hey," Adam called from the couch. "He's waking up."

Davenport ran back to the living room and gently placed a hand on Chase's shoulder to keep him from trying to stand up. "Just lie there a minute," he said. "I don't want you to pass out again."

"What's going on?" Chase asked. "What happened?"

"Unfortunately, I have no idea," Davenport said. "This is getting stranger by the minute."

Leo arrived just then with Douglas right behind. "I found him," he said. Then, noticing that Chase was awake, he asked, "How's he doing?"

Chase moaned before answering, "My head hurts - a lot."

"Really?" Davenport asked curiously. "Like a headache?"

Chase shook his head. "No. It _hurts_. It's like a sharp, pulsing, pain. Just like the other day."

"Well at least that's something to work with," Douglas said. "Have you ever felt a similar pain before?"

"I don't think so," Chase said. After thinking for a minute, he added, "Well, it's not _exactly_ the same; but it is similar to the way I felt after..."

When he suddenly paused, Douglas asked, "After what?"

"After you used the Triton App on me," Chase said quietly.

"Does it feel like the same thing?" Davenport asked in immediate concern.

"No, it's just the same type of pain," Chase tried to explain. "It's similar in the way that it's a sharp pain rather than a headache, migraine, or bruise would feel. But it's mostly gone now."

Davenport turned to Douglas and showed him the miniature scanner's readout. "I found several of Chase's apps running while he was unconcsious," he said. "As soon as I turned them off, he came awake again. Do you think it's some kind of a glitch?"

"Could be," Douglas said. "If Chase's bionics are glitching, his apps may be activating without him asking them to. And that would be sure to cause some sort of reaction from his body."

"So how do we stop it?" Leo asked.

"Well, we first have to confirm that that's what is going on," Davenport answered. "Then we can work on a solution."

"You aren't going to deactivate my chip are you?" Chase asked.

"Not yet. But if there is any sign of trouble, we will have to deactivate it until we can figure out an answer to this problem," Davenport said.

Bree and Tasha walked in the front door right then, each carrying an armload of shopping bags. As soon as Bree saw the group gathered around the couch, she dropped her bags and ran over to see what was wrong.

"What happened?" Tasha asked.

"We're trying to figure that out," her husband answered. "Bree, do you think you can keep an eye on Chase here if Douglas and I go down to the lab for a while? Just send an emergency alert over the security system if anything goes wrong."

"Got it," Bree said with a nod. "What are you going to be doing?"

"We have to check out a theory of ours," Douglas replied before following his older brother towards the elevator.

* * *

"This doesn't make any sense," Davenport groaned in frustration. They'd been running tests on the lab's various computers for three hours now. And the result always came back the same. "How can all of these test results try to tell us that Chase's bionics are functioning correctly?"

"We've run a hundred different tests on dozens of different computers and they all came back with this same answer," Douglas pointed out. "I know it doesn't make sense, but there's nothing wrong with Chase's bionic chip."

"Do you think we should deactivate it until we figure this out?" his brother asked. "I don't want it causing him any harm."

"It might be a good idea," Douglas said. "Especially since we still don't have any idea as to what we're dealing with."

Before anything else could be said, all the computer monitors lit up with the red emergency signal. The Davenports looked at each other in concern before racing at top speed toward the elevator.

Upstairs, they found Bree leaning over the couch, trying to feel for a pulse in Chase's neck. Leo was hurrying into the room carrying a first aid kit.

Mr. Davenport ran over to the couch and quickly slid Chase onto the floor to start CPR.

Douglas rushed over to help. Leo set the first aid kit down in case it was needed, then he stepped back to keep an eye on his watch. He knew that there was only a small window of time during which CPR could help a person once they stopped breathing.

The time ticked by slowly as the Davenports worked non-stop trying to make Chase's heart start working on its own again. Bree was biting off every fingernail she had while watching the proceedings fearfully. Adam and Tasha, who'd come in shortly after the alarm went off, were careful to stand back out of the way.

"There!" Donald Davenport said suddenly. "I can feel a pulse again." The relief that flooded the room was overwhelming. Davenport and Douglas lifted him back up onto the couch and covered him with a blanket.

"That was way too close," Douglas said. "We need to deactivate his chip right now."

Davenport nodded. "I'll grab the device from my office."

In less than a minute he was back with the necessary tool. Douglas helped him use it to tune in on Chase's frequency and remotely deactivate his bionics.

A moaning sound from the couch signaled everyone that the patient was waking up. They gathered around to see how he was feeling.

Chase's eyes slid open slowly and he stared blankly at the group for several minutes before he seemed to come to full awareness. "Ow," he said, laying a hand on his forehead. "I feel like my head is going to explode."

"Just take it easy, buddy," Davenport said. "We deactivated your chip, so hopefully it won't cause any more problems for the moment. Just lie still and wait till your head stops hurting."

Chase nodded and then looked at him nervously. "Can you fix whatever is wrong with me?"

"We will," Davenport promised. "We have to go back to the lab to work some more, but we'll come right back if you need us." Turning to his wife, he asked, "Tasha, do you think you could set up an extra bedroom upstairs for him? I don't think he should go back down to the lab until we're sure he's going to be okay."

Tasha nodded and hurried upstairs to do as he'd said; Bree went with her to help. Adam was placed in charge of watching Chase and he took this job very seriously. He stood directly in front of the couch, staring down at his brother with a careful eye.

Chase closed his eyes so he didn't have to watch Adam hovering over him like that. "You don't have to do that," he said.

"Yes I do," Adam insisted. "And, Chasey, stop scaring us like that."

The unusually worried tone of voice he used was enough to make Chase open his eyes again. He was surprised to see concern and fear on Adam's face. "It's okay," he told him. "I'm fine. Just sit down and relax for a few minutes. I promise to tell you if I feel sick again."

"Okay," Adam said, but he didn't even budge from his spot. He was determined to keep an eye on his younger brother.

* * *

 **A/N: I know, Donald and Douglas don't usually work together this well; but I think they would manage to put aside their differences when they know "their son" is counting on them.**

 **Thanks for reading and I really hope you're enjoying the story so far. Things will start to be explained a bit more over the next few chapters.**

 **NEXT CHAPTER: "Memories" will hopefully be ready by tomorrow evening**


	5. Memories

**A/N: This was my favorite chapter to write. As far as the differences in the kids' ages, I wasn't quite sure what to do because they never specified in the series. I'm assuming they're very close in age though since they all graduated high school together. Also, in the episode where they showed the flashback of the kids as toddlers, they all looked to be around the same age. And I'm going to assume that they were very young when they were taken away otherwise they probably would have at least a vague memory of having another father.**

 **Thanks again to everyone who is reading and/or following this story. And thank you so much to LoveShipper, Unknowndiva, Airforce1990, Dirtkid123, EmotionalDreamer101, tennisgirl77, and two guests for reviewing my last chapter.**

 **Airforce1990** **and** **Dirtkid123** **: Thank you for pointing out the correct spelling of the Triton App on Chapter 4. I went back and changed it. I really appreciate it and any more tips that could help improve the story.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Memories**

After Tasha and Bree finished preparing one of the guest rooms, Adam carried Chase upstairs and they made him as comfortable as possible. Adam brought a chair into the room so he could continue keeping an eye on him. It was midnight by now, though, so he soon gave in to exhaustion and fell sound asleep. Leo brought his pillow and blanket over from his bedroom and curled up in a corner to help keep watch, but it wasn't long before he was also dozing.

Tasha let Bree sleep on the living room couch so she would be within hearing range if anything happened during the night. She also didn't stand much chance of sleeping if she returned to her capsule because the Davenport brothers held the lab hostage all night long. They continued running tests and formulating theories and possible solutions. They took turns dozing off and on throughout the night, but neither of them got much sleep.

By dawn, everyone was exhausted from worry and lack of sleep. Mr. Davenport didn't object for a moment when Adam and Bree begged to stay home from school; and even Tasha finally agreed to let Leo stay home as well.

Davenport and Douglas emerged from the lab around eight in the morning and immediately went upstairs to the guest room. Chase was sleeping soundly in the bed with Adam and Leo sitting at a card table playing monopoly.

"How's it going?" Davenport asked his step-son.

Leo looked up from the game board and told him, "So far, it's been really quiet. He's been asleep since we brought him up here. Around one o'clock this morning, he made some noise and we thought he was going into another attack. But then he quieted down again and that was it. Hasn't stirred since then."

"I wish I knew whether that was a good thing or a bad thing," Davenport sighed. "Either way, we should probably wake him up now. I want to take a blood sample back to the lab for testing."

He walked over to the bed and placed a hand on the patient's arm. When there was no immediate response, he gently shook the arm instead. Still not getting a reaction from Chase, Davenport began shaking him more firmly while talking to him. Sensing that something was horribly wrong, he checked Chase's heartbeat and pulse only to find that both were perfectly normal.

"What's wrong?" Douglas asked.

"I'm not sure," his brother replied. "He won't wake up, but his vitals are fine."

"Coma?" Douglas guessed.

Davenport shook his head. "I don't think so." On a hunch, he pulled out the mini scanner and hovered it a few inches above Chase's head. He cringed when he read the display. "Most of his apps are up and running again."

"That's impossible," Douglas said. "We deactivated his chip."

Davenport nodded. "Somehow, it reactivated."

"Um, that's not good is it?" Leo said.

"No, it's not," Douglas said with a puzzled frown. "I can't figure out how the chip could have reactivated on its own."

"Could Chase have done it in his sleep?" Leo suggested.

"I doubt it," Davenport said. "The trouble is, if it can turn back on by itself then we have no way of deactivating it. And we're pretty sure by now that the attacks are directly linked to the bionic activity on his chip. Plus, there is no telling what other apps it may suddenly activate."

"Why can't you just rip it out?" Leo asked.

"You can't remove a bionic chip until it's deactivated," Douglas reminded him.

"Well, you have to do something," Adam said. Everyone turned to him in surprise. He'd been so quiet up to now, they'd forgotten he was here. And he looked really upset. "You keep saying what won't work; why don't you do something that _will_ work?"

Davenport walked over to Adam and grabbed his arm comfortingly. He knew there was no way for Adam to understand what was going on, and that must make all of this even more difficult for him. Especially since Adam was always used to being able to just run in and smash things to make everything better.

"Adam," Davenport said calmly. "We're trying to do everything we can for your brother. But we don't know what is making him sick. We need to figure that out before we can help him."

"Well hurry," Adam mumbled quietly, turning away from them.

Douglas took a sample of Chase's blood and hurried back to the lab to run a few tests on it. Davenport stayed upstairs to give Adam and Leo a break from guard duty. They didn't want to leave Chase completely unattended since they knew his bionic chip was running again.

Davenport paced back and forth across the room, his eyes barely leaving Chase's sleeping form. It was hard to see him looking so out of it. Chase may be the youngest, but Davenport always considered him the glue that held the team together. That was why he'd made Chase the team's mission leader.

He stopped pacing for a moment and stood looking down at the small teenager. He couldn't help the feeling of panic rising inside him at the thought that he might not be able to save him. He knew Chase wasn't really his child, but he'd always thought of him as a son - the way he felt about all three of them. His thoughts began to drift to that very first night...

* * *

 _SIXTEEN YEARS AGO_

 _Davenport opened the back seat of his car and threw a few blankets down on the floor to provide cushioning. Then he carefully set the three small bundles onto the pile of blankets and secured them in as best he could. He glanced around at the darkened street to make sure no one was around before shutting the car door and returning to the back door he'd left open._

 _Inside the lab, he gathered as many of the papers, computer discs, and blueprints as he could and shoved them into a briefcase. He quickly threw the rest into the furnace and waited to make sure they were completely destroyed before once again slipping out into the street. He climbed quickly into the driver's seat of the car and placed the stolen briefcase on the passenger seat._

 _Taking a deep breath, he tried to convince himself that everything would be okay before putting the car in gear and starting out. He knew he needed to get off the streets as quickly as possible, but he was careful not to exceed the speedlimit. If the police pulled him over right now, he was finished._

 _As soon as he reached his own house, he pulled into the garage and slid the garage door closed right away. Then he grabbed the blanket-wrapped bundles from the back of the car and hurried into the house with them._

 _"What have I done?" he asked himself with a groan as he looked down at the three babies lying in a row on his couch._

 _He still couldn't believe his brother had done this - that he'd actually genetically engineered people to implant with bionics. Douglas had done some weird things in the past, but this was scary. This was where Davenport had to draw the line and take action._

 _Should he call the authorities? No, he couldn't bring himself to do that. No matter what Douglas had done, he was still his brother; and Davenport still felt that desire to protect and help his younger brother._

 _"And what about you three?" Davenport asked, looking again at the entire reason he was now in this mess. They looked so young and innocent right now. They were divided in age by only a few months each, with the youngest one at not more than five months of age. But Davenport knew what they were capable of. He'd seen the computer files, he knew what horrible weapons of destruction they were likely to become._

 _But did they have to be? Wasn't it possible to teach them how to use their amazing abilities for good things? That would mean..._

 _No, he couldn't keep them here. He knew nothing about raising kids, he'd never even been married. But if he didn't keep them, the authorities would take them away. Probably experiment on them and try to duplicate the technology to make more of them. He couldn't let that happen either._

 _One of the babies started to whimper and he quickly reached down to pick it up. The ID bracelet on the baby's wrist was simply marked "Test Subject A". The baby girl was Subject B, and the youngest was Subject C. He would have to think of actual names for them later._

 _As far as temporarily caring for them, that wouldn't be a problem. He had taken the blueprints his brother had made for containment capsules for the children. He could easily replicate some capsules of his own for them. He didn't know very much about the necessary care and treatment of bionic humans, but he'd taken every important document of Douglas' that he could find. And he should be able to figure out the rest from studying them. He could even build the capsules in that huge empty space in the lab downstairs. He'd been planning on using it for future expansion, but this seemed like a better cause. Of course, he'd have to hide the lab entrance so no one ever found it._

 _Davenport set baby "A" down again and looked at the three tiny babies. He was beginning to think that maybe he could do this after all._

 _His eyes fell on the youngest baby, the one marked "C". There was something different about that one. Even though he couldn't even be a half-year yet, there was such an intelligent and understanding look in his eyes. He was significantly smaller than the other two, but he didn't seem to be unhealthy in any way. On the contrary, he seemed peculiarly tuned in to his surroundings, as if listening to every sound and taking in every detail. The baby suddenly reached his tiny hand out towards him and Davenport took it gently._

 _"Don't worry," he told the baby. "I'm going to protect you - all three of you. No one else will ever try to turn you into weapons again. I promise."_

* * *

Davenport didn't even realize that he'd fallen asleep in Leo's chair until a sudden noise awakened him. He immediately leapt to his feet and hurried over to the bed. Chase was still asleep, but he suddenly seemed more restless than before.

"Chase," Davenport said, shaking his shoulder. "Chase, wake up."

But instead of waking up, he just continued to lie there, deep in sleep. At first he seemed to be just moaning unintelligably; but now it was evident that Chase was actually mumbling something in his sleep. Davenport leaned down close to listen, hoping that there would be some clue as to what was wrong.

"No," Chase groaned. "Can't - can't - "

His voice trailed off for a second and Davenport assumed that he must be having a nightmare. But then he started speaking again, more urgently this time.

"Stay back," he seemed to be warning someone. "You can't..."

"Chase!" Davenport said, trying once again to shake him awake. He could tell that something bad was about to happen; he just wasn't quite sure what that would be. "Chase, can you hear me?"

"Don't come back..." Chase's voice trailed off and he stopped speaking.

"Who, Chase?" Davenport asked urgently. "Who are you talking to?"

Suddenly, Chase's eyes slid open and he looked at Davenport with anger in his eyes. Taken by surprise, Davenport didn't move at first - which was apparently a big mistake. Within a second, he found himself flung across the room and landing on the floor. Chase stood up and glared down at him.

"Where am I?" Chase asked angrily.

But it wasn't Chase's voice that spoke. Instead, it was that creepy, all-too-familiar voice that they'd come to know and fear.

It was Spike.

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, since Chase's apps were malfunctioning anyways, I couldn't resist throwing Spike into the story. Especially since I (like most of the people I've talked to about it) was completely disappointed by that** _ **"Spike vs. Spikette"**_ **episode a few weeks ago. Seriously, I wanted to see Spike go up against Spikette at the end - or at least do** _ **something**_ **. They'd better bring him back soon and actually let us see Spike in action next time.**

 **Next time, the Davenport brothers make a discovery about what is ailing Chase and someone else may run the risk of becoming another victim...**

 **NEXT CHAPTER: "Spike Is Back"**


	6. Spike Is Back

**A/N: Wow, feeling so overwhelmed and unbelievably grateful to everyone for your encouragement, advice, and support. I'm always willing to listen to suggestions on how I can improve my writing.**

 **Thank you especially Unknowndiva, LoveShipper, smartgirl13579, imaginedragons4eva, Dirtkid123, MKLG, and BasketballQueen! Your reviews are really, really appreciated!**

 **Okay, so here's chapter 6. I found out that I actually have a little trouble writing for Spike. (Turns out he doesn't really say much unless he's threatening someone's life!) But here it is anyways and I hope you all enjoy it!**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Spike Is Back**

"Spike?" Davenport asked in surprise.

"Yeah," the deep, rage-filled voice answered. "Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter," Davenport said, trying to think fast. Whatever was causing Chase's apps to go haywire must have also triggered his Spike app. The only problem would be turning Spike off and getting Chase back. "What do you want?"

Spike turned and looked around the room before answering. Then he strode to the window and looked out at the mansion's beautiful view of the ocean. "Nice place you have here," he said suddenly. "So I think I'll start by destroying it." Dropping the curtain, he looked back at Davenport. "And then I'll destroy all of you."

* * *

Leo and Adam were dozing on the couch downstairs when they heard a loud crash. It sounded like someone had just kicked a door off its hinges. Leo jumped off the couch and shook Adam awake.

"What's going on?" Adam asked sleepily.

Before he could answer, Leo noticed out of the corner of his eye someone coming downstairs. He glanced over and saw with surprise that it was Chase. "Hey, you're awake! How are you feeling?"

Chase walked over to where Leo stood and glared at him. "Get out of my way," a disturbingly familiar voice said.

"Spike?" Leo asked nervously.

"I said, out of my way," Spike growled. He reached over and hurled Leo over the back of the couch before continuing towards the back hallway.

"Hey, Spike," Adam said angrily. "Don't throw Leo around."

He stood up as if to go take Spike down, but Leo grabbed his arm quickly. "Adam, you can't go picking fights with Spike right now."

"Why not?"

"In the first place, Chase is still sick; you might hurt him. And secondly, the last time the two of you fought, Spike creamed you."

Adam frowned, still a little touchy over that topic. "Fine, than what do we do?"

"Well, let's just go make sure he doesn't break too many things," Leo suggested. "He looked like he was headed down to the lab, so why don't you go join him? I'll go try to find out what's going on."

Adam nodded and ran off to locate Spike.

Leo heard a noise on the stairs and looked over to see Davenport walking downstairs. "Big D, Spike is back," he said quickly.

"I know," Davenport said. "We met upstairs. Whatever activated Chase's others apps to go on the fritz has apparently also activated Spike. But it's different this time."

"What do you mean?"

"Spike is naturally aggressive, but he was designed more for self-preservation than needlessly attacking everyone."

"I've seen Spike take on the entire football team at school before," Leo said. "I think he _likes_ needlessly attacking people."

"But this is different. It's like he thinks he has a mission to take us out. I don't know what's wrong with him, but I think we'd better steer clear while I try to shut him down."

Leo glanced at the back hallway. "Um, Adam may be trying to stop him right now."

"Oh great," Davenport groaned. "If those two get into another wrestling match, they'll tear the place apart. We'd better go find them right away. Which way were they headed?"

"Towards the lab," Leo said.

They ran to the elevator as fast as they could and took it downstairs. As soon as the doors opened, they were greeted by a chair hurling right at them. Dodging the piece of flying furniture, they looked out at a scene of total destruction. Spike and Adam were going at each other like their lives depended on it. Desks, chairs, computers, inventions, etc. lay in rubble all around. Some had been smashed - presumably by Spike - while others looked like the unfortunate victims of Adam's laser vision missing its target.

Douglas was ducking for cover behind the cyber-desk. Leo and Davenport joined him.

"Any ideas on how to stop the two strongest people on earth?" Douglas asked.

"Any ideas on how Spike suddenly showed up?" his brother countered.

"Actually, I do," Douglas said. "We couldn't figure out how the chip reactivated, so I did some scans of Chase's wireless networks and discovered that he's been hacked. Someone else is controlling his bionics, not Chase."

"What?!" Leo exclaimed. "How is that even possible?"

"We can figure that out later," Mr. Davenport said. "For now, we need to focus on shutting down Spike."

"We've done it before by calming Spike down long enough for Chase to take back over," Leo said. "And I think I have an idea on how to do that. If the bionic signal interrupter is capable of making Spike's aggression levels intensify, than can't we reverse it somehow to make it lower his aggressiveness?"

"Wait," Davenport interrupted. "When did you use the signal interrupter on Spike? And _why_ would you?"

"Oh right, we never did tell you about that incident, did we? Well, it's not important now."

Davenport gave him a warning glare. "You're lucky we're in the middle of a crises right now, but I want to hear the full story later." Turning to Douglas he said, "The plan won't work if someone else is still in control of Chase's bionics. We need some way to block them from accessing his chip."

"You keep forgetting that I'm an expert hacker myself," Douglas reminded him. "If I was able to take down your entire mainframe, it should be easy to stop this guy. I'll just need enough time at the main computer to write a firewall."

Davenport signaled for Adam to come over to them. Since Spike was busy ripping apart another control panel, it was safe to leave him alone for the time being. As soon as Adam reached their hiding place, Davenport explained the plan, "Adam, we need you to hold Spike off long enough for me, Douglas, and Leo to get into the next room. Once there, I'll seal both of the doors leading into this room; that way, Spike can't get away. Douglas, you can access the main computer from the next room while Leo and I head to the vault to find the signal interrupter."

Everyone nodded to show that they understood. Spike had just finished his demolition job and was approaching their "safe" spot.

"Okay, Adam, cover our exit," Davenport told him.

Adam stepped out from behind the desk and summoned up as much of his bionic energy as he could. He released it straight forward and the resulting blast wave was powerful enough to throw Spike against the far wall. The other three seized that moment to flee through the doorway.

As soon as they were safely into the next room, Davenport ran to the door's control panel. He waited impatiently for the doors to slide completely shut and then he quickly typed in a security code.

"There," he said. "Now both exits to that room are sealed until I type in the correct code."

"You think Adam will be alright in there?" Leo asked.

"Sure," Douglas nodded. "He's tough. And besides, attacking Chase is what he does best."

"Come on, Leo," Davenport said, heading towards the elevator. "We've got to get down to the vault and work on that signal interrupter. I just hope this plan works."

"You know what's ironic?" Leo said to no one in particular. "Chase has all the ablities that would be so useful to us right now; like the override app and the forcefield."

"Well, if this works, we'll hopefully have Chase back in no time."

* * *

Bree walked through the front door and immediately collapsed on the couch. She'd been too worried to hang around here doing nothing, so she'd spent the morning jogging (well, actually, she was super-speeding) along the seashore. The fresh air and exercise had done a lot of good but, combined with getting very little sleep last night, it also wore her out.

Tasha came running downstairs just then with a frightened look on her face.

"Tasha, what's wrong?" Bree asked.

"I don't know. I just went into the guest room to check on Chase, and I found it empty."

"Empty!?"

"Yes, and the whole room was completely destroyed as well. Do you know where any of the guys are?"

"No, I just got back," Bree said, becoming concerned. "I can check the house real quick." She disappeared in a blur as she super-speeded away. She was back in less than thirty seconds. "They're not on any of these two floors. Do you want me to check the lab?"

"I know where they are," Eddy announced from the wall monitor.

"Where?" Bree and Tasha asked at the same time.

"Guess," Eddy said with a mischevious grin.

"Eddy," Bree warned him. "I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now. You can either tell us what we want to know, or I'll rip out your wiring."

"Fine," Eddy pouted. "They're in the lab trying to contain that maniac you call Spike."

"Oh no," Bree moaned. "I'd better get down there right away. They're going to need help."

She started to walk towards the elevator when she suddenly felt a wave of dizziness hit her. She stumbled against the kitchen island, grabbing onto it for support.

"Bree," Tasha called, running to her side, "Are you okay?"

"I- I think so," Bree said. "I just feel a little tired all of a sudden; it's probably because of all the running I was doing this morning."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I feel fine," Bree assured her. But she didn't really feel fine. She wasn't sure what was wrong with her exactly, but she felt unusually slow all of a sudden - which is a really weird feeling for someone with super-speed. As she continued towards the elevator, Bree tried to shrug it off as simply tiredness. She hoped that was all it would turn out to be.

* * *

 **A/N: Well of course I wasn't going to let Chase be the only one in trouble. :) Added a reference to** _ **"Spike's Got Talent"**_ **(one of my favorite episodes) by having them use the bionic signal interrupter. I've always assumed that Leo and Chase avoided telling Davenport about that incident.**

 **Next time, attempting to stop the hacker and bringing Spike down. And we get to see Adam's softer side. Please let me know how the story is so far and I'm always open to any suggestions on how to improve it. Thank you!**

 **NEXT CHAPTER: "Hacked"**


	7. Hacked

**A/N: A HUGE thank you to everyone for reading this story and writing such thoughtful comments.  
BasketballQueen, Dirtkid123, LoveShipper, Asori, MKLG, and DeathStar5799: THANK YOU SO MUCH! You have no idea how much your reviews mean to me.**

 **My dad is actually a computer programmer so I had to dig through his _very_ long computer books to check a few facts before writing this chapter. I intended to have it finished and posted by yesterday morning, but that didn't happen because yesterday was so chaotic. (We're in the middle of moving right now, so things are very confusing at the moment!) But here it is, and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Hacked**

Davenport and Leo just finished their work on the bionic signal interrupter when Douglas entered to announce that the firewall was ready to be activated.

"But this hacker is good," he added. "Whoever did this knew a lot about your security systems; not to mention his expertise in computer knowledge. The scary part is that I'm guessing he knows a lot about bionics. It would take someone who is almost an expert in that field to figure out how to hack Chase's system."

"I know, that's what concerns me," Davenport said. "Especially since he obviously knows about the kids being bionic."

"And he knows what school they go to," Leo reminded them.

"But what I can't figure out is why he did it," Davenport said.

"Well, the kids are a major technological breakthrough - thanks to me by the way," Douglas said. "They could be worth a fortune in the right hands."

"That's just it," Davenport said, frowning in confusion. "This guy had control of Chase since late last night, yet he never tried to remove him from the house. Why?"

Douglas nodded. "That is weird. He must have some other motive for whatever he's trying to do."

"Well, we'll have to worry about that later," Davenport said. "For now, let's just work on solving the immediate problem. We'll use the modified signal interrupter to calm Spike down. If it works, you need to install the firewall and block that hacker from sending his commands. Then, hopefully, Chase will be able to regain control of his bionics and we can shut down the chip again."

They hurried back up to the lab and waited just outside the door to the main room. Davenport was just about to enter the code that would unlock the doors when Bree entered the room.

"What's going on?" she asked. "How did Spike get out?"

"We don't know," Davenport said. "But we have a plan to stop him. Actually, you can be a huge help with this. When I open the doors, super-speed into there and point this device at Spike's chip. Press this button on it to activate the device. Douglas will do his part of the plan once we're sure that it's working."

"Got it," Bree said with a nod. She grabbed the device from him and readied herself for action. As soon as the doors slid open, she raced inside the room.

Adam was laying on the floor nearby where he'd apparently just been thrown by Spike. As for Spike, he was standing in the center of the room, tearing a desk chair in half. Bree knew she had to move fast. Zipping around the edge of the room, she came up behind Spike and activated the device while pointing it directly at the back of his neck.

"What are you doing to me?" Spike growled, turning to see what she was doing. Bree moved quickly, racing around to once again stand behind him. "Get out of here," Spike hissed, but Bree noticed with relief that his voice didn't sound as angry as before.

"It's working," she yelled over her shoulder.

"Good," Douglas said, running into the room. "Keep it up a minute longer while I install the firewall."

Spike tried to snatch the signal interrupter from her hands, but Bree moved too fast for him. When it seemed like her actions might just make him more angry, she changed tactics. Making herself invisible, she moved in on him.

"Where'd you go?" Spike asked in confusion. He was looking a lot less scary by the second. If she could just keep this up a little longer...

Bree felt another wave of dizziness wash over her. Her invisibility turned off without her wanting it to and she took a step backwards to steady herself. Even though her vision was clouding a bit, she managed to keep the device pointed at him and turned on.

"There," Douglas said triumphantly. "It's up and running. The hacker's signal is blocked."

Davenport and Leo rushed into the lab and approached Spike cautiously. "Okay, Spike," Leo said. "We need you to calm down. Take a deep breath and relax."

All at once, the anger left his eyes and he suddenly looked much paler and sicker. "Guys?" Chase asked in his normal voice. "What's going on?"

Davenport hurried over to help ease Chase into the only unbroken chair in the room. "It's okay, buddy," he said. "We think we've figured out what is wrong with you. Someone has been trying to hack into your system to control your bionics. That's probably why you said it felt like when the Triton App was used on you."

"How did someone hack into my system?" Chase asked.

"I have a theory about that," Douglas said. "Both days that you felt sick were days that you'd been at school. I think the hacker got into your system Friday at school and tried unsuccessfully to establish a link with your bionic chip. That's why you weren't feeling that great on Friday night. He must have hung around the school on Monday waiting to see you; that's when he hacked in for the second time. That time around, he must have created a stronger connection between your system and his computer, because he's been able to maintain it all of yesterday and today. The attacks were probably separate attempts on his part to link with your chip and take control. We kept shutting you down which must have slowed his progress. Leo said you almost had an attack come on around one this morning, but that it never manifested. I'm guessing that's when he finally made a successful link. Then he spent the hours until morning trying to learn everything he could about your bionic system before activating Spike."

"That makes sense," Davenport said. "It also explains why each computer test came back negative; Chase wasn't actually sick. And his bionics were technically working correctly, it's just that someone else was in control of them. But the hacker would still have needed a way to connect to Chase's bionic signal on Friday. Chase, did you use your bionics at school that day?"

Chase nodded. "I didn't think anyone else was paying attention, so I thought it would be okay. I never realized something like this would happen."

"That's why I'm always warning you to never use your abilities except at home and on missions," Davenport reminded him. "Because we can never predict what might happen."

"I'm confused," Adam said. "What's going on?"

Leo tried to simplify it for him. "Someone is trying to control Chase with a computer. Just like Chase can control you and Bree with his override app."

Adam nodded to show he understood. "So, can't the person just do it again?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Douglas said. "I made a firewall to temporarily keep him out. But he's obviously a good hacker and it shouldn't take him too many hours before he regains control again."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Chase asked as calmly as he could. He was trying his best not to appear nervous. After all, he was the mission leader and it was usually his job to keep the others under control. But actually he was very scared inside. The idea of having someone take over him was frightening, especially since he knew what he'd done while under the control of the Triton App; he didn't want to put his family in danger again.

"We need to find out who is doing this and then we can stop him," Davenport said. "Until then, Chase, we'll have to deactivate your chip again. And we should probably remove it as well, so I'm going to give you a sedative that will make you go to sleep until we can turn your chip back on."

Chase nodded but he didn't look confident about the plan. He hated the idea of not being awake because that meant he would have no idea how things were going until it was all over. Still, he knew it was the best way to fix the problem, so he agreed.

Douglas deactivated the chip and extracted it from Chase's neck while Davenport injected him with the sedative. Then they helped him back up to the guest room.

"Mr. Davenport, shouldn't he be in his capsule?" Bree asked. "He hasn't been inside it since Sunday night."

"He's fine for now," Davenport said. "It's only been two days, so he shouldn't have any bad reactions yet."

"I'm heading back down to the lab," Douglas told his brother. "With luck, maybe I can trace the system hack to its source."

Davenport nodded. "That's a good idea. The rest of us should probably clear out of here also. We can work on repairing the lab in the meantime."

* * *

After the lab was cleaned up as much as they could, Bree decided to head upstairs to check on Chase. She quietly opened the door and slipped inside. She was surprised to see that she wasn't alone in the room; Adam was sitting in a chair, carefully watching over his brother. Bree hadn't even realized that he'd disappeared halfway through the lab clean up.

"Adam," she said quietly. "You okay?"

He looked at her with a sadness that Bree had never seen on him before. She was surprised at how affected Adam was by the whole thing.

"He's going to be okay," Adam said, "isn't he?"

Bree put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Of course he is. Douglas and Mr. Davenport are working on a solution right now. They'll find out who is doing this; and then you and I are gonna go find him and punch him in the face."

That cheered Adam up a little, but he still didn't look completely reassured. He glanced over at the sleeping figure and commented, "It's not fair."

"What's not fair?" Bree asked, trying to follow his train of thought.

"They made him go back to sleep."

"They had to, Adam. He needs to rest until we can catch whoever is doing this."

"I know. I mean that it's not fair to make him go back to sleep before I could tell him."

"Tell him what?"

Adam didn't answer right away and instead kept watching Chase. Bree slid another chair over beside his and sat down on it. She leaned forward and asked again, "Tell him what?"

"Tell him that- that I'm sorry," Adam said. "I don't try to be mean to him, it's just in fun. All the times I pick on him and beat him up, I'm not really trying to hurt him."

"He knows that, Adam. And he knows you really care about him."

"Remember when Douglas showed him how to use his laser bow for the first time? That was so Chase could protect himself - against me. I should make him feel safe, not scared of me. He's my little brother and I don't want anything to happen to him. I don't mean to keep picking on him, but he keeps teasing me about how dumb I am; I just wanted to get back at him. And I guess I just took it too far."

Bree smiled at him. "I think the two of you need to have a nice long talk after Chase wakes up," she said. "But in the meantime, you should go downstairs and get some rest."

"I don't know..."

"Hey, we're gonna need you at full strength when we find that hacker. Otherwise you won't be able to make him pay for what he's done."

Adam smiled. "Okay," he finally agreed. "Keep an eye on Chase for me."

He hurried out of the room and Bree could hear him running down the staircase a moment later. She smiled to herself as she thought about how worried he'd been. She didn't know that Adam was that caring; it was nice to see this side of him.

Bree suddenly felt another wave of dizziness wash over her. She must be more sleep-deprived than she'd originally thought. Leaning back in her chair, she decided to get a little rest while waiting for Mr. Davenport to give them their next instructions. As she drifted off to sleep, her eyes fell on Chase and she really hoped that she'd been right when telling Adam that everything would turn out okay.

* * *

 **A/N: I've often wondered if Adam realizes just how mean he is to Chase. Sometimes he can say and do such horrible things to him; but then whenever Chase is in trouble, Adam is right there to protect his younger brother. Anyways, the next chapter will be finished soon. And don't worry, the danger is far from over. The hacker isn't finished with his plans for the Davenport family yet!**

 **NEXT CHAPTER: "Two Against One"**


	8. Two Against One

**A/N: I know this next scene is kinda similar to the ending of** _ **"Sink or Swim"**_ **but I really needed this to happen so it can help explain some things later on. Hopefully it won't be too much like that episode. This chapter might need a little more editing, but I wanted to post it now in case things get too busy during the next couple days. (We're moving most of our stuff to the new house over this weekend.) This scene was actually completely different before I read daphrose's review and got inspired :). So, a huge thanks to her for this one.**

 **X-X-Midnight Star-X-X** and **MKLG :** Thanks! I'm really glad you're enjoying the story so far!  
 **BasketballQueen, Dirtkid123, LoveShipper,** and **EmotionalDreamer101 :** I'm _so_ relieved you liked the Adam scene; I rewrote that part at least a dozen times before posting the chapter. Thank you!  
 **Unknowndiva :** Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it! And I'm anxiously awaiting the next chapter on your story "Chasing the Sickness"; it is SO good!  
 **Asori :** Thank you so much! I'm glad my story is gramatically correct. I don't have a beta reader or any kind of editor to proof-read my chapters, so it's hard sometimes to know if they are suitable for posting.  
 **Daphrose :** Wow, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I was surprised and so happy to read your awesome reviews on the last two chapters. Actually, you gave me so many new ideas that I stayed up most of the night rewriting this chapter. It had a completely different ending before, so I hope this new version still makes sense.

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Two Against One**

Davenport and Leo entered the living room to find Adam sound asleep on the couch. "Wake up, Adam," Davenport called to him. "Douglas found where the hacker is located."

He didn't stir right away so Leo walked over to shake him awake. "Come on, big guy. Let's get moving. There's a villain for you to beat up; and you love doing that!"

When Adam's eyes finally opened there was a strange expression in them. Leo backed away nervously and called over to Davenport. "Hey, Big D, I think something is wrong with Adam."

Before he could say another word, Adam reached out and grabbed his arm. Leo yelped and tried to struggle away, but the bionic teenager was way too strong for him.

Davenport ran to his step-son's side and tried to pry Adam's hands off of him. "Adam, let go," he said. Looking over at the staircase, he saw Bree walking down. "Bree, we need your help. I think the hacker has gotten control of Adam."

Instead of answering, Bree super-speeded over to them and flung both Leo and Davenport against the kitchen counter. They landed on the floor in surprise.

"Oh no," Leo said. "Bree's gone, too. Now what?"

"Now we need to get downstairs as fast as we can," Davenport said. "Maybe we can shut them down if we can get them into their capsules."

Adam stepped forward and fired his heat vision at them. They quickly jumped over the counter and landed on the kitchen floor on the other side. Adam stepped around the counter and focused his laser vision on them instead, but Leo grabbed a mirror from the wall and used it to deflect the deadly beams.

"We need to get out of here," Leo said, on the verge of panic.

They were about to make a run for the elevator when Bree used her super-speed to get there first. She stood blocking their only means of getting to the lab.

"Great," Leo groaned. "Now what are we supposed to do?" Catching some movement out of the corner of his eye, he looked over at the stairs and saw Chase coming down. "Oh, don't tell me you're turned into a zombie, too."

"Chase, what are you doing awake?" Davenport asked.

Chase paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked around at the confusion, trying to make sense of what was happening. Apparently the sedative was still slowing down his thought processes. "I heard the noise," he explained. His voice still sounded a little off.

"Adam's and Bree's bionics have been taken over," Davenport explained quickly while narrowly avoiding one of Adam's laser beams. "We have to shut them down."

Davenport and Leo dodged several more attacks and managed to make it across the room to Chase. "We have to think of something fast," Leo said. "Because we won't last much longer."

"I can do it," Chase said quietly.

"What?" the other two asked in unison.

"I can shut them down," Chase said. "Just give me back my chip. I can use my override app on them."

Davenport shook his head. "It's too risky. You've already been hacked, remember? He can just do it again if we reactivate your chip."

"I was able to fight against the Triton App," Chase reminded him. "I can fight this thing too. Please, Mr. Davenport, I have to try. They're my siblings."

Adam released his blast wave at them and they scattered to avoid the impact. Leo dove over the couch and Davenport moved to the other side of the staircase while Chase ducked behind one of the support columns.

"You'd better make up your mind fast, Big D," Leo said. "Do we give him his chip or not?"

Davenport considered the question another minute before finally relenting. "I guess we don't have much choice. Chase, get over to my desk in the corner. The chip is in the top drawer. Bring it and the chip implanter over to me. But be careful."

Chase nodded and ran out from behind the column. Adam fired a laser at him, but he easily dodged it without slowing his pace at all. Reaching the halfwall that divided the living room and office space, Chase flipped over the wall - ducking another laser beam in the process and landing squarely on his feet on the other side. He ran to the desk and grabbed his chip and the necessary device before hurrying away from the office area again.

Just as he was about to head for the staircase again, Chase sensed something a few yards in front of him. He couldn't scan the place due to not having the use of his bionics, but his instincts told him to change directions. He moved left and began heading for Leo instead. Moments later, Bree suddenly appeared where he'd originally been running towards. She'd used her invisibility to try to trick him.

Chase flung himself over the couch and landed beside Leo. "Do you know how to use this?" he asked, handing him the chip and the device.

"Yes, I helped Douglas fix Bree's chip when it broke earlier this year. Turn around."

Chase turned so that Leo could place the device against the back of his neck. After selecting all the correct settings and preparing the chip for linking with Chase's bionics, Leo pushed the activation switch. Chase felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck followed by a weird feeling as the chip tried to reconnect with his bionic system. A moment later, his system came back online and he was again able to see his digital displays and tracking screens.

"Okay," he called to Davenport, who was busy distracting the other two. "I'm ready."

"Just be careful," Davenport warned. He quickly got out of the way as Chase emerged from behind the couch and approached his older siblings.

Adam and Bree turned towards him and got into attack-ready positions. Chase used his molecular kinesis to move a coffee table and hurl it at them. Bree was easily able to leap over the flying object with her super-agility; she flipped off of the table and landed on the floor in a dead run towards her brother. Chase activated his force field and she crashed into it at full speed, sending her flying back onto the couch.

Getting angry now, Adam smashed the coffee table and strode forward menacingly. Chase held out his fist and activated his laser bow. The blue energy beam immediately appeared in his hand and he used it like a bostaff to fight back against his older brother. Adam stepped back and blasted Chase with his laser vision. Because he'd been trying to keep an eye on Bree, Chase was caught off guard and the laser beams hit him directly in the chest.

Leo and Davenport watched in panic as Chase fell back against the front door in pain. A normal human would have been killed instantly by the intensity of Adam's lasers; and even a bionic person can be seriously injured by them.

Pulling himself to his feet, Chase saw both his siblings approaching to finish him off. Worse, he could feel an outside computer source trying to connect with his chip. He quickly shut off most of his wireless connections, only leaving open his links to Adam's and Bree's chips. This narrowed down his ability to fight, but he had to take that chance. He turned on his force field and then compressed it between his hands until it was a small, glowing orb of pure energy. He released this at Adam and Bree and it sent them staggering back several feet.

Taking the opportunity, Chase activated his override app. "Connect to Bree," he told his internal network system. A red message flashed in the center of his vision to let him know that the connection was made; beneath the message was a list of options. He scanned down for the one labeled "SHUT DOWN". Just as he was about to select that command, Chase had a better idea. It was risky, but it would definitely be worth it if it paid off. He needed to take that chance. He scrolled instead to the command labeled "DISABLE NETWORK CONNECTIONS" and mentally selected it.

Having all of her external network connections turned off meant that Chase was no longer in control of her, but neither was the hacker. A confused expression swept over Bree's face and she stumbled backwards, grabbing the stair railing for balance.

"What happened?" she asked, looking a bit sick from the after-effects of being hacked. One glance around the room, though, told her exactly what was going on. "Chase," she called over to him. "Shut down Adam, quickly."

But Chase was fast losing control of his own chip and he knew it. He was dividing his energy too much in trying to fight against Adam, override his brother's bionics, _and_ keep the hacker out of his system. "I can't," he told her. "I need to focus more on keeping my chip from re-linking with the hacker's computer. Do you feel up to handling Adam for me? I need him distracted for long enough to override his system."

Bree looked over at where Adam was now hurling large objects at Leo. Her step-brother was doing a good job at keeping a step ahead of the bionic, but that couldn't last for long. Bree turned back to Chase and nodded. "Yeah, I can handle him."

"Just be careful," Chase warned. "If you feel yourself being hacked again, give me a shout and I'll reconnect to your system to block him out."

"Okay," Bree said. She stepped away from the stairs and took a deep breath. _You've got this_ , she told herself. Waiting until she felt well enough to fight again just wasn't an option. Her family was in trouble and she was going to protect it. "Hey, Adam," she called, getting her older brother's attention. "I'm not on your team anymore, so watch out."

Adam turned away from Leo and approached her direction. Bree saw his eyes begin to glow red and quickly flipped out of the way before a laser beam shot past right where she'd been standing. She used her super-agility to leap over her brother and land directly behind him. One well-timed kick swept his feet out from under him and Adam went down. Bree super-speeded over to the kitchen and, grabbing Leo and Mr. Davenport, raced them over to the elevator.

"Get downstairs," she told them.

"I'm going to try shutting off Adam's bionics remotely from the computer in the lab," Davenport said. "But I'm not sure if it will work." Looking at her in concern, he said, "Bree, be careful."

"I'm fine," she lied. "Now hurry."

As the elevator doors slid shut, Bree ran back into the living room. Chase was trying to fight back against his older brother, which unfortunately meant that his bionic system was once again dividing its attention too much. Bree sprang up onto the ceiling and raced across it. A second later, she flung herself back to the ground right beside Adam and judo-flipped him onto his back. It was amazing how much Mr. Davenport's training sessions came in handy.

"Chase, you feeling any better?" she asked, readying herself for Adam's next attack.

Chase nodded. "I'm ready to connect to Adam's chip now," he said. "Just keep him distracted a second longer."

"No problem," Bree said sarcastically.

Adam was standing again and ready for a fight. He charged towards his sister, who sped away quickly. Reaching the couch, she spun around and ran at full speed towards Adam instead. Caught off guard, he didn't have enough time to brace himself for the impact. He was thrown backwards several feet and hit the wall. With an angry shout, Adam stepped away from the wall and prepared to unleash his blast wave at her.

"Connect to Adam," Chase told his system. As soon as the connection was established, he scanned for the 'SHUT DOWN' command. He wasn't going to take a chance on Adam being able to fight off the hacker like Bree was doing. They needed a safer option right now that would allow Mr. Davenport and Douglas enough time to regain control of their bionics. He selected the shut down command from the option menu and Adam immediately collapsed onto the floor unconcsious.

Chase heaved a huge sigh of relief and leaned against the wall. He felt terrible; and one glance at Bree told him that she wasn't doing too great either. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Bree said. "I just feel weird."

"I shut down all of our satellite connections," Chase told her. "The hacker won't be able to get back into our chips for now."

Leo and Davenport, who'd been watching the whole thing from the security monitors downstairs, came running back into the living room. "Yes!" Leo cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "We won!"

" _We_?" Bree said teasingly, remembering their conversation from Friday night. It was weird to think how normal their lives had been just a few days ago - well, normal for them anyways.

Davenport hurried over to them and asked, "Are you two okay?"

They both nodded. Chase looked at him with a faint smile. "It worked," he said. "I was able to keep him out by shutting off my outside communication lines. He wasn't able to take control again."

"Good job, Chase," Davenport said, patting his back proudly. Turning to Bree, he said, "And what about you?"

"Just keep that guy out of my head and I'll be ready for anything," Bree said with a confident grin.

Davenport smiled. "I'll do my best. Come on, we'd better go help Adam. Remember, that hacker is still out there and I think it's time for him to learn that he messed with the wrong family."

* * *

 **A/N: So, I hope that turned out okay after the extensive rewriting I did at 3 am this morning. Please let me know what you thought. Chapter 9 is unfortunately giving me a lot of trouble and I'm not sure how soon it will be finished. (I HATE writer's block!) Hopefully it won't take too much longer, though. If I finish it soon enough, I'll hopefully be posting it** _ **before**_ **we get entangled in the whole moving chaos this weekend, but we'll see.**

 **Next time, the Davenports finally discover who the hacker is...**


	9. An Old Friend

**A/N: First, I'm really sorry for taking so long to update. Packing, moving, and unpacking took up so much of my time this weekend that I didn't have a lot of time left for working on this. Second, sorry for this being such a short chapter. Had a LOT of trouble with this one and ended up deleting a large amount of what I was originally going to put in it. Hopefully it still makes sense. Now that it's out of the way, though, my writer's block is gone (YAY!) and I'm making great progress with chapter 10. We're nearing the end now and there will probably only be a few chapters left.**

 **Thanks again to everyone who has been reading, following, reviewing this story!**

 **BasketballQueen:** XD Your review made my day! XD And thank you so much!  
 **PurpleNicole531:** Thanks! You'll be finding out the hacker's identity in this chapter. And thank you so much for all the reviews on my earlier chapters as well!  
 **Asori:** I tried your suggestion for beating writer's block and it actually helped. Thanks and I'm glad you liked the chapter!  
 **Daphrose:** Thank you! Fight scenes are actually rather hard for me, so I'm really happy it turned out okay. Oh, and thank you SO much for updating Daddy's Little Lab Rats.  
 **Unknowndiva:** Thanks! And I'll be anxiously awaiting that update. Glad you're enjoying the story!  
 **X-X-Midnight Star-X-X :** I'm really sorry this update didn't get out sooner. Anyways, thanks for the reviews and I'm really glad you are enjoying it!  
 **Who Doesn't Like Reading Grr, DeathStar5799, LoveShipper,** and **Smartgirl13579:** Thank you so much! Your reviews mean a LOT to me. You guys are amazing!

* * *

 **Chapter 9: An Old "Friend"**

While the bionic battle was going on upstairs, Douglas had managed to track down the hacker's location. It was an address somewhere inside the warehouse district by the docks.

"Unfortunately," Davenport said, "that will make communication between the lab and the team rather difficult. We'll have to use the high-frequency communicators I designed for your Antarctic mission last year."

Leo passed the special communicators around and everyone attached one to their ear. After a quick check to make sure they were properly linked with each other, Davenport went to his cyber desk and brought up a holographic satellite display of the warehouse area in question.

"Okay," he said. "This is the area that the hacker's signal came from. If the location is accurate, he should be inside warehouse 34. That's this one," he zoomed in on a warehouse located directly on the edge of the water. "The only entrance is on the northeast corner. Chase, you feel well enough to handle being mission leader?"

Chase nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Okay, but I want you to pull out if anything feels wrong," Davenport told him. "We're fairly certain that the hacker got into Adam's and Bree's systems by accessing them through your network. As long as you keep him out of your own bionics, you should be able to keep them safe as well. So don't take any unnecessary risks."

"Don't worry, Big D," Leo said. "I'll keep an eye on him."

"You're not going," Davenport said. "It's too dangerous. And besides, your mom would kill me if she found out."

"You have to let me go," Leo pleaded. "I'll explain it to Mom if I have to. Chase is like a brother to me and this guy deserves to pay for what he did. This is something I just really feel I have to do."

Davenport hesitated, seeing how earnest his step-son was about wanting to help. "Fine," he sighed. "But you'd better not do anything risky. I want you to return in one piece. And I'm going along, too."

"Me, too," Douglas added.

Davenport shook his head. "We're going to need someone back here in the lab to monitor things."

"Why don't you?" Leo asked.

"For the same reason you're going. This guy almost killed my son."

"Hey," Douglas said. "He's my son, too. I have just as much right to go." He crossed his arms stubbornly to show that he wasn't going to back down on this decision.

"Okay," his brother finally gave in. "I guess we could have Eddy keep an eye on everything back here. You'll behave for us, won't you, Eddy?"

"Oh sure," the emoticon said, appearing on the main wall monitor. "Just don't expect the door to be unlocked for you when you get back. Although I guess I should have said ' _if_ you get back'."

Bree rolled her eyes and tried to ignore him. Turning to Davenport she asked, "When do we head out there?"

"In five minutes. So get in your capsules to change into your mission suits. The rest of us will go down to the weapons vault and get us some firepower."

Leo and the Davenport brothers headed for the elevator while Adam, Bree, and Chase hurried into their capsules. Chase activated the change sequence and they emerged a moment later in their mission suits. Adam and Bree then headed downstairs to help the others in the vault.

Left alone in the lab, Chase sat down in a desk chair with a sigh of relief. He'd managed to keep himself looking healthy and alert during the mission briefing because he knew that was the only way he'd be allowed to go. If Davenport knew how he really felt right now, he'd definitely be banned from this mission.

The truth was, he felt awful. Apparently whatever that hacker had done to his brain was still affecting him. Chase was also pretty sure that the failed attempts at linking with his chip the other day had left some damage behind. He felt tired, dizzy, and he had a headache that just wouldn't quit. Plus, that laser blast he'd taken from Adam earlier was still hurting like crazy.

But he needed to go with the others. His override app could protect Adam and Bree from getting hacked again. The culprit would have to get into Chase's system first; and Chase was definitely not going to let that happen again. He just needed to continue pretending that he was fine. Afterwards, he could come home and sleep for a week to make up for this.

The others reentered the lab, carrying their selected weapons and devices with them.

"Do you really think we'll need all this stuff?" Leo asked.

"I hope not," Davenport answered. "But since we don't know what we're up against it's best to come already prepared."

"Yeah, especially since this guy obviously has extensive knowledge in how bionic people work," Douglas said. "He probably prepared for Adam, Bree, and Chase already. He might have even let us track his location as a way of leading them into a trap."

"Come on," Adam said impatiently. "Let's just go hit this guy and get it over with."

Leo grinned. "I like the sounds of _that_ ," he said. "Let's go!"

* * *

Adam easily broke the lock on the warehouse door and stepped aside to let Bree through. Using her invisibility, she ran around the outer edge of the building at top speed, checking for any potential ambushes. Returning to the door, she reported that she'd seen no one inside.

"That's strange," Davenport said. "Chase, use your thermal scanner to check the building for life forms."

Chase quickly ran a thermal scan of the building and immediate surrounding area. "No life forms," he reported.

"I guess he cleared out," Leo said. "Are we going inside?"

"We'll split into two teams," Davenport said. "Adam, Bree, and Chase, you go inside and check for any signs that someone has been here. Douglas, Leo, and I will stay outside and guard the door in case this turns out to be an ambush."

"Okay," Bree said. "Let's go then." She slipped back through the door, followed closely by her brothers.

The warehouse was dark and looked like it hadn't been occupied in a while. A thick layer of dust coated the floor and the rows of giant, wooden crates. There were several skylights in the roof but the glass was so dirty that only a tiny amount of light managed to filter through. It also didn't help that the day was already heavily overcast.

"It looks like Leo was right," Bree whispered. "Whoever was here must have cleared out."

"That doesn't make sense," Chase said. "There's something we're missing." He couldn't shake the feeling that they were walking into a trap. "I'm going to scan the area again."

"No need for that," a voice said from behind them. They spun around to see the vague outline of a teenager, approximately Chase's height, standing just out of sight in the shadows. He was blocking the narrow passage that lead through the tall stacks of crates toward the door.

"Who are you?" Chase demanded. "And why didn't my scanners detect you?"

The teen stepped out of the shadows and stopped a few feet in front of them. He glared at the them with hate-filled eyes and asked, "Now do you recognize me?"

The three siblings felt a mixture of shock and fear as they saw who it was. Yes, they definitely recognized him.

" _Marcus_?!"

* * *

 **A/N: Marcus wasn't actually my first choice for the villain in this, but I was re-watching the second season of** _ **Lab Rats**_ **on Netflix streaming last week and decided that I really wanted him to be in this story. Also, since this is the last season of the show, I think they should bring him back for real and have him attack the Bionic Academy (maybe with an android army of his own or something). Either that or I** _ **really**_ **want to see another episode with Sebastian. Okay, anyways, chapter 10 will be done soon. Sorry again for this chapter being both really late and really short. Please let me know what you thought of it.**

 **NEXT CHAPTER: "Family Reunion" - Marcus wants revenge, and the Davenport family may be in deeper than they can handle...**


	10. Family Reunion

**A/N: This one ended up running a lot longer than I wanted it to. Maybe it will help make up for the last chapter being so short. The next chapter (Chapter 11) should be the last one.  
This contains another fight scene and I'm terrible at writing fight scenes so I really hope everyone is able to follow what is going on. If not, let me know and I'll work on re-writing those parts. Thank you!**

 **Smartgirl13579:** Yes, we're settling into the new house fairly well so far. Thanks for asking!  
 **Unknowndiva:** Here's the battle you asked for. :)  
 **Asori:** Yeah, that's why I didn't give a preview of this chapter's title at the bottom of the last chapter. I was afraid someone would figure it out. Anyways, thank you!  
 **PurpleNicole531:** I agree. He was not only their first villain but probably one of their strongest considering they weren't even the ones who took him down (the cave-in did). Glad you liked it!  
 **Dirtkid123:** XD Marcus should be glad he doesn't have to fight you! ;) Thank you so much for the review and I'm glad you're enjoying the story!  
 **BasketballQueen:** Thank you! And they still walked into a trap, just not the kind they were expecting.  
 **X-X-Midnight Star-X-X:** Glad you liked it! Thank you so much!  
 **DeathStar5799:** Thanks! (btw, as a Star Wars fan, I love your username!)  
 **LoveShipper:** Thank you for all your reviews on this story! I'm really glad you're liking it  
 **Melon-Lord-of-Fire:** Welcome to the story! Glad you're liking it. And that sounds like a cool idea about Chase and Douglas with Marcus. If they don't do it on the show, you should definitely write a fanfic on that idea.

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Family Reunion**

Adam, Bree, and Chase stared at their bionic "brother" in complete shock.

"Marcus?" Bree asked in surprise. "What are you doing?"

Marcus glared at her. "What do you _think_ I'm doing? Getting revenge for what you people did to me."

"What we did to you? I seem to remember you trying to kill us the last time we saw you," Chase said. "Who are you working for now?"

"I'm not working for anyone. I was the one who hacked into your bionics, Chase. And I also took control of Adam and Bree. When I didn't succeed in killing all of you that way, I decided to let you know where to find me and then I could deal with you in person," Marcus explained calmly. "I know all about computer hacking, and how bionics work, from helping our dad in the lab all those years."

"Well, that explains why my scanners didn't read any heat signatures in here," Chase said.

Marcus smiled. "That's not all your scans missed. There's a little surprise waiting outside for the rest of the family."

* * *

Leo crouched behind a shipping container and used it to shield him from view of the warehouse. He'd been sitting here since the others had gone inside and was quickly growing bored. Crawling to the edge of the container, he peeked around the corner at the giant metal building. Still no sign of life. He glanced at his watch and noticed with concern that it'd been almost ten minutes.

"Leo calling Big D," he said into his earpiece.

"What's wrong, Leo?" Davenport's voice answered.

"Did you notice how long they've been in there?" Leo asked.

"Yes, I was just about to contact Chase on his communicator. If they haven't found anything in there, we'll head back to the lab. Maybe we tracked the signal incorrectly."

"Roger that. 10-4. Over and out."

"Leo, just say 'bye' or something next time."

"Okay, fine."

Leo turned off the device and walked around to the front of the shipping container. He saw Davenport approaching the warehouse door from his left and he knew that Douglas was positioned somewhere on the right. He waved his arm in that direction to signal his uncle that they were getting ready to pull out, but there was no response.

Switching back on the communicator, he tried getting in touch with Douglas that way, but with no luck. "Hey, Big D, something's going on. I can't get ahold of Douglas," he said when they met in front of the door.

"Yeah, I can't get in touch with the others, either," Davenport replied. "I don't like the looks of this."

Before anything else could be said, a group of people suddenly swarmed around them. Leo froze in his tracks and raised his laser weapon defensively. He was surprised to see that the attackers were eight teenagers, all around the same age as Adam, Bree, and Chase. The teens formed a loose ring around Leo and Davenport and stood in battle-ready positions as if waiting for the command to attack.

"I don't get it," Davenport said in confusion. "Chase scanned the area. There was no one here." He lifted his handheld scanner and pointed it towards the nearest teen. Looking at the readout, he turned to Leo with a worried expression on his face. "I know why they didn't show up on Chase's scanners. They're androids."

* * *

"Just stop, Marcus," Bree said. "What is it you think you're gonna get out of this? What did we do to you?"

"You destroyed my home and my life," Marcus said angrily. "And then you just left me."

"We thought you were dead," Chase told him.

"Yeah, you were kind of under several feet of cement," Adam said.

"None of you even bothered to come back," Marcus accused them. "You weren't even concerned with whether or not I'd survived."

"Were we supposed to be?" Bree asked. "You tried to kill our family _and us_."

"How did you escape?" Chase asked curiously. "The whole lab exploded."

"I crawled out of the rubble before the explosion went off," Marcus said. "I made it into one of the escape tunnels and got outside to safety. As soon as I could, I got access to a computer and worked on repairing my damaged parts. It took many months and a lot of work, but I made it. And the first thing I promised myself I'd do was find you guys and make you pay. But I got a rather interesting surprise when I began spying on you and found out that our dad, who you had betrayed and tried to get locked up, was now working on your side."

"We didn't betray him," Bree said defensively. "He wanted to use us as weapons."

"He made you," Marcus reminded her. "And you chose Mr. Davenport over him. I stood by him through all those years, not you three. And yet he was still so quick to just forget about me and move right in with you. You replaced me."

"That's not true," Chase said, trying to reason with him. "Douglas thought you were dead. We all did. If we'd known you were still alive, we would have tried to help."

"Too late for that," Marcus said. "And I think it's time to end this." He reached out his hands in front of him and they glowed with his bionic energy. Turning towards them, he released a huge blast wave that threw them in all directions, crashing through the crates as they fell.

* * *

"Okay," Leo said. "What's the plan?"

The androids were looking more hostile by the second. And apparently their leader had finally given them the signal, because they suddenly charged forward as a group. A tall, dark haired boy nearest the warehouse wall fired his laser vision at Leo, who just barely ducked in time. A shorter blond kid began using molecular kinesis to hurl objects and shipping crates at them.

"Get for cover," Davenport yelled to Leo. "And fire everything you've got at them!"

"Will do!" Leo called back, firing his weapon at the tall boy with the laser vision. The energy emission from the gun sent the android staggering back a few feet, but that was it. "They're too strong," Leo said.

"Keep firing," Davenport told him. "Aim at their weak spots where it might do the most damage to their wiring. Especially the neck."

"Got it," Leo nodded. He continued firing at the oncoming soldiers while retreating towards the pier, looking desperately for a place to take shelter. "I'm just really glad my mom doesn't know what I'm doing right now."

* * *

Chase rolled over with a groan. He'd crashed through three wooden crates before the concrete floor brought him to a jarring halt. He wasn't sure if he'd blacked out afterwards or not. All he knew was that he was in pain and his head was hurting more than ever. Using a box for support, Chase pulled himself to his feet and waited for his vision to clear.

Carefully picking his way through the shattered and splintered crates, he stepped back out into the open. Marcus was standing a few feet away, holdng up a force shield in front of him to deflect the flames from Adam's heat vision. His back was to Chase and completely unprotected. Seizing the opportunity, Chase ran forward and used a judo flip to land Marcus on the ground.

The android teenager was back on his feet in mere seconds. He reached out his arms in either direction, pointing directly at Adam and Chase. Blue lightening bolts of pure electricity shot towards the two brothers and they fell to the ground almost unconcscious from the shock.

"Do you really think I don't notice you there, Bree?" Marcus said suddenly. Turning, he used his molecular kinesis to throw a metal bar at a nearby shadow.

Bree, who'd been trying to use her invisibility to sneak up on Marcus, barely ducked in time to save herself from getting hit in the head with the metal object. Using her super-agility, she ran straight up the side of one of the piles of crates. Having built enough momentum, Bree flipped backwards off the pile and landed feet first on Marcus' shoulders. He went down but used his super-speed to roll away before getting pinned to the floor. Leaping back onto his feet, he threw an energy sphere at her; she was forced to super-speed away from him to avoid getting hit with it.

Chase and Adam were back up by now and the three siblings formed a ring around their attacker. Marcus turned and tried to shoot a laser at Adam, but Chase threw a force field between the two of them to protect his brother. Bree ran in and tried to flip Marcus off balance, but he saw her coming and shoved her out of the way with his own force field.

"This isn't working," Bree said, breathing heavily. "Chase, what do we do now?"

Chase was about to put his system to work on calculating the best plan of attack when he noticed a weird feeling in his head. He recognized that feeling from before; someone was trying to hack into his brain again. Marcus must be transmitting the signal from his own robotic brain.

Knowing that he didn't have a moment to lose, Chase quickly began shutting down his outside signals. If he could block Marcus' way in, there was a chance he could protect them from being taken over again. The only problem was trying to focus on that task at the same time as defending himself and his siblings from Marcus' physical attacks.

"Chase," Adam called to him. "You awake? We need a plan."

Marcus looked at Chase with an expression that clearly said he knew exactly what Chase was doing. Without taking his eyes off the team leader, Marcus sent a shock wave directly into Adam, throwing him to the ground. In almost the same moment, he also used his molecular kinesis to make a nearby pile of crates unsteady.

Chase could see that Bree was standing directly under the pile of crates and that, in a moment, Marcus would bring the entire pile crashing down on her. He used his own molecular kinesis to try to steady the pile and prevent it from toppling. Locked into this kinetic battle over the crates as well as the mental battle for control of his bionics, Chase knew that his system wouldn't handle it for long. Marcus would win if they didn't do something fast.

"Bree, get out of there," he warned her.

Noticing the unbalanced pile overhead, Bree moved quickly out of the way and ran over to help Adam to his feet. Chase activated his magnetism app in time to stop Marcus from hurling a shipping container at them.

A red warning message began flashing in the center of Chase's vision: 'WARNING: SYSTEM OVERLOAD'. If he let Marcus hack into him, the android would take control of all three siblings in less than a minute. "Adam," Chase called to his brother. "Heat vision now!"

"I tried," Adam started to say.

"Just do it," Chase told him. As soon as he saw Adam's eyes begin to light up, he called to his sister, "Bree, cyclone."

Bree nodded to show she understood. She took off at top speed and ran lightning-fast circles around Marcus. The flames from Adam's heat vision were caught up into the tornado-like winds and formed a barrier of fire around their enemy. Bree quickly stopped running and moved out of the way to avoid getting singed by the flames.

Marcus was forced to stop everything else so he could form a protective energy shield around him, keeping the fire out. He knew how much the heat could damage his wiring. The flames died out rather quickly without Bree's speed keeping them going and Marcus immediately lowered his shield. Before he had a chance to attack them again, Adam ran forward and used his pressurized-lung-capacity to create a powerful wind, knocking Marcus back against the wall of crates.

"Do you really think you can beat me?" Marcus yelled angrily. "I'll destroy you, your family, and your home - just like you did to me!"

"I don't think so," Bree said, with just as much anger in her voice. "You've hurt this family enough."

"Marcus," somebody yelled from just out of sight.

Everyone turned in surprise to see Douglas come running around the corner from the direction of the front door. He ran over to the group and came to a stop a few feet in front of Adam, Bree, and Chase. He was now standing between them and the android.

Marcus stared at the man with hate and anger. "Hi, _Dad_. Surprised to see me still alive? Or do you even care?"

"Marcus, just stop," Douglas said. "Leave the kids alone, they didn't do anything to you."

"Yeah right," Marcus laughed harshly. "How can you actually defend them? You obviously don't remember the way they destroyed all your work and tried to have you sent away. They deserve to have me destroy them." He activated his lightening-force and was ready to strike the three bionic siblings down when Douglas held out a small device in front of him.

"Don't do it, Marcus," he warned. "This emits an electrical pulse strong enough to fry your circuits for good. I don't want to do it, Marcus, but I will if you try to hurt my kids."

Marcus glared at him. "After everything they've done, you're still going to protect them? They didn't seem to feel the same way when they betrayed you to side with your brother."

"They were right," Douglas said quietly. "And I understand why Donald took them in the first place. I can't hold a grudge against them for doing what they thought was right. You shouldn't either." In a firmer voice, he added, "And, yes, I will protect them. We're a family now; and families fight for each other."

The group stood in icy silence for a moment. Bree glanced at the others and couldn't help noticing with a bit of irony that their bizarre little "family" was finally grouped together again. She realized that these four people would have been her entire family had Mr. Davenport not found them when they were babies. She and her brothers probably would have ended up as evil as Marcus if that hadn't happened. It gave her a weird feeling; and, in a strange way, she could almost feel sorry for Marcus.

After a moment of silence, Marcus apparently made up his mind. He summoned all of his bionic energy and released a powerful blast of electricity and lightning straight at Douglas. Bree stood frozen in horror, too stunned to do anything. She knew that it was enough energy to kill Douglas instantly. "No!" she yelled.

On his part, Chase was having a hard time just keeping the group in focus. His vision kept blurring and he felt strangely off balance. The distraction of having Douglas arrive gave him the necessary time to shut Marcus out completely. He and the others were safe from being hacked, but he wasn't sure how well he was doing otherwise. The room looked rather vague and cloudy and it felt almost like the floor was wavering. He knew the others were talking, but their voices sounded fuzzy and muted.

It was Bree's yell that made his mind snap back into focus enough to see what was going on. Reacting instinctively, Chase leapt forward, landing in a crouched position directly in front of Douglas. He activated his force field immediately; just in time to stop the deadly bolts of electricity. Marcus didn't let up, however, and Chase could feel his shield beginning to fail. The energy beams would be able to pierce through in a matter of seconds.

"Douglas, do it!" Bree and Adam yelled at the same time.

Douglas pointed the pulse emitter at Marcus and pressed the switch. A blue ray of light shot forward, hitting its target dead on. The android immediately deactivated and crumpled to the ground in a heap.

Chase felt the energy attack let up, so he released his force field and let it disintegrate. He sat where he was for a moment, watching the room spin crazily out of control, before falling forward onto the concrete floor. As he lay there, he could vaguely hear Bree calling his name and he felt Douglas lean over him to see if he was alright. Then the world faded from view.

* * *

 **Poor Marcus. :( But I guess you can't feel too sorry for an evil android. I chose Chase as the one to save Douglas because of how quickly he leapt to his "dad's" protection in** _ **"Taken"**_ **. I got a very strong impression during the third season that Douglas was connecting better with Chase than the other two. Maybe because they have so much in common, and Chase kinda reminds me of Douglas in a lot of ways: they're both the youngest brother; they're both geniuses who like showing off their intelligence; both get picked on by their older brothers; and both have a tendency to overreact to things.**

 **Anyways, I hope the chapter wasn't too long. The next chapter will probably be the last one.**

 **NEXT CHAPTER: "Leo's Close Call" - Outside the warehouse, Donald and Leo are dealing with a few problems of their own...**


	11. Leo's Close Call

**A/N: This was supposed to be the last chapter, but it ran longer than I had wanted it to. Had to choose between posting it all at once as a really long chapter, or splitting it into two shorter chapters. I chose the second option because I think it makes the chapters easier to read if they don't run on too long. (Although that might just be me.) So now Chapter 12 will finish the story instead of this one.**

 **Dirtkid123:** Sorry, won't be finding out what happens to him til next time... Thanks for reviewing!  
 **PurpleNicole531:** Thank you! Glad you liked the battle scene; I'm not very good at writing action scenes, so I'm happy it turned out okay.  
 **Asori:** Wow, thanks so much! I was nervous about whether or not the fight scene was able to be understood.  
 **Sweetheart91597:** Actually, I've been following "Like Father, Like Son (?)" since you posted the first chapter and I think it's really good! I hope you'll do more Chase/Douglas stories after this one is finished.  
 **LoveShipper:** Thank you for being such a steady supporter! I really appreciate all your reviews  
 **DeathStar5799:** Thanks! And, yes, the name thing is actually intentional (I'm a big fan of Marvel comics).  
 **Teeloganroryflan:** I'm glad you are enjoying it! Thank you!  
 **BasketballQueen:** Thank you! Hope this chapter isn't too disappointing (it's much shorter than I'd intended). Hope you like it anyways!  
 **And thank you also to the guest who reviewed last chapter. I really appreciate it!**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Leo's Close Call**

Leo rolled out of the way of one android and quickly fired his weapon at another one. His aim was perfect and the android collapsed in a sparking pile of wires. Leo sighed in relief. There were only three more to take down.

He jumped onto a group of oil barrels and dropped down on the other side. From the safety of his temporary shelter, he checked his weapon. It's energy charge was dangerously low. Leo figured he could probably get two or three more shots with it, but that would be it. Peeking carefully over the top of the barrels, he checked the immediate area for threats. It was eerily quiet for the moment.

"Alright," Leo told himself. "I can do this."

Climbing out of his safe spot, he walked cautiously through the rows of shipping containers, crates, and loading equipment. He passed another destroyed android a few yards away and assumed that Mr. Davenport must have taken that one out. Reaching the edge of the pier, he turned down another aisle and began working his way back towards the warehouse.

That was when the last two androids made their appearance. A tall, muscular looking boy stepped right out in front of Leo while a dark-haired girl dropped down from the pile of crates behind him. They had him boxed in.

Leo raised his weapon and fired at the same time as ducking towards the ground. He managed to miss being hit with the boy android's force field projection; but, unfortunately, his own weapon's energy beam went way off target. Leo hit the ground and rolled quickly to the side to avoid making contact with his enemy's fist. They were at such close range now that Leo knew he couldn't miss. He spun his weapon around and fired; the android dropped to the ground.

"Yes!" Leo sighed.

But his relief was only temporary as he suddenly remembered the girl. Glancing around, he saw that she was no longer standing by the crates. He fought down a feeling of panic as he frantically scanned the area for any signs of movement. A noise from directly behind told him where she was. Leo quickly turned around and pulled the trigger. The momentum of his turn coupled with the force of his weapon firing caused Leo to fall backwards into a tarp-covered pile of boxes. He looked up anxiously to see if he'd hit his target; she was still standing.

Leo pulled the trigger again only to have nothing happen. His energy charge had worn out. The girl smiled, realizing he was defenseless. She reached out her arm and activated a laser sphere that instantly appeared in her open palm. Drawing back her arm she prepared to release it at Leo, who knew he didn't even have enough time to roll out of the way.

Expecting the deadly sphere to hit him at any second, Leo suddenly heard a strange electronic pulsing sound coming from his left. The girl android immediately froze and then fell to the ground, deactivated. Standing up a little shakily, Leo walked over to make sure she was really out of commission before turning towards the source of the noise.

Davenport was standing a few yards away, holding a device similar in appearance to the bionic signal interrupter.

"Big D," Leo said in a mix of surprise and overwhelming relief. "Wow, you were just in time."

Davenport hurried over to make sure he was alright. Then he did something really surprising: he grabbed his step-son in a strong hug. "Are you okay?" he asked anxiously, releasing Leo so that he could check him for injuries.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Leo assured him. He was a little surprised, and touched, at how concerned his step-father was for his safety. It felt good somehow. "Where's Douglas?"

"He snuck inside the warehouse a few minutes ago to make sure the others are alright," Davenport said. "He took another of these electronic-disruptors with him. It can fry any android beyond repair."

"I forgot about the others during all the confusion," Leo admitted. "We'd better go make sure they're okay." Out of curiosity, he asked, "Why did you and Douglas bring those disruptors? You didn't know we'd running into an android army."

"I know," Davenport said. "But we had no idea exactly what we were going to be facing, so while we were in the vault we saw a few of these sitting to the side and decided to bring them along in case they were needed. We figured that if they didn't come in handy for anything else we could at least use them to disable the hacker's computers and tracking equipment."

"I guess that makes sense," Leo nodded. "Come on, let's go find the others."

They turned and headed towards the warehouse. They were careful to keep an eye out for any more enemy soldiers, but that seemed to have been the last of them. Reaching the building, they stepped through the door and hurried towards the sound of voices coming from farther ahead.

As soon as his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Leo glanced around in an attempt to take in what had happened. It looked like there'd been quite a bit of action in here as well. Boxes, crates, and unidentified debris lay scattered and charred all over the place. A familiar android that he immediately recognized as Marcus lay on the floor deactivated. Bree and Douglas were crouched on the floor nearby, leaning over someone and apparently trying to make them wake up. Adam stood right behind them, watching in concern.

Davenport and Leo rushed over and saw that the injured person was Chase. He was unconscious and looking very pale and worn out.

"What happened?" Davenport asked quickly. He gently pushed Bree out of the way so he could check Chase for injuries.

"Not sure," Douglas said. "As far as I could tell, he wasn't zapped by that last attack."

Davenport felt his forehead and noticed that it was burning hot. His breathing wasn't quite right either. "I think he's really sick," he said. "Maybe from some kind of system overload."

"You think Marcus tried to hack in again?" his brother asked.

"Seems likely. Let me just make sure nothing is broken before we try to move him." Davenport checked him over and noticed quite a few bruises from the fight with Marcus, but no broken bones. He cringed when he saw the deep burn mark from where Adam had lasered him earlier that day. He'd forgotten all about that injury. "Alright, let's get him home as quickly as possible."

"He's going to be okay?" Adam asked nervously.

"Yeah, he's going to be fine, Adam," Mr. Davenport said. But everyone could hear the doubt in his voice.

* * *

 **A/N: The next chapter should be ready for posting soon. It's already finished (I wrote it at the same time as this one) but I want to re-edit it before posting it. I'm guessing it will be ready by tomorrow evening at the latest.**

 **NEXT TIME: Making Chase well again; and a couple of family discussions that are long overdue...**


	12. Everything's Great

**A/N: Wow, so this is the last chapter. :'( JK, I had such a great time writing this and I want to thank everyone for being so supportive and encouraging. This was my first fanfic and it meant so much. You guys are amazing!**

 **Dirtkid123:** Sorry, I thought it would be easier to split it into two shorter chapters. I guess I just feel that way because of my insanely short attention span! :) Anyways, thanks for being such a supportive reader and reviewer during this story!  
 **Asori:** Thank you! You've been amazing and very encouraging this whole time. Thanks again!  
 **X-X-Midnight Star-X-X:** Welcome back! And I certainly hope there's nothing wrong with that because I have to admit I like those kind of stories as well. (Of course, I've been told I'm a weird person.) Also, don't apologize for missing a chapter; you've been so supportive in your reviews and I'm really grateful. Thanks!  
 **Lea Ootori:** Glad you're liking the story! Yep, some sweetness is coming to help make up for the earlier sadness. :)  
 **Teeloganroryflan:** Thanks for all your awesome reviews throughout this story. It meant a lot to me. Thank you!  
 **LoveShipper:** I've always felt that Leo was a bit underappreciated considering how many bad guys he has helped take out (even before he was bionic). Anyways, thank you again for all your reviews and for reading this story all the way through to the end.  
 **PurpleNicole531:** I love it when they put touching family moments (no matter how short) in the show and I've been disappointed with how few of those we've gotten this season. I'm really glad you liked the chapter and thank you so much!  
 **Melon-Lord-of-Fire:** Thanks! I kept my promise and posted this as soon as possible. Hope you like it!  
 **DeathStar5799:** :D Thank you! All your reviews have meant a lot to me!  
 **BasketballQueen:** Thanks for all your support and your really kind reviews during this story. I'm glad you've been enjoying it. Thank you so much!

 **Okay, so here is the final chapter and I hope you all like it!**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: "Everything's Great"**

He could feel himself slowly rising towards consciousness. Unfortunately, that meant that he could also now feel the pain. And there was a lot of it. He ached all over and his head and chest seemed to hurt the most. He tried to push himself back into the safety of his dreams, but there was too much noise.

He carefully and systematically began filtering through the various sounds and noises that were filling his brain. He quickly dismissed any that he knew were coming from outside - including a car engine starting up three blocks away - and focused on the ones that he knew to be originating in this room.

Adam was talking loudly, asking about him. Mr. Davenport's slightly quieter voice was answering him. Leo was standing nearby, trying to help explain things in a way that Adam would understand. Tasha was also there; she was saying something to Leo. Bree was standing a few feet away; she wasn't speaking, but he knew the sound of her breathing and heartbeat rather well by now. After all, they'd grown up together.

He still didn't feel like opening his eyes yet. He'd much rather slip back into unconcsiousness and leave the real world behind for a little while longer. Where was he anyway?

This wasn't the lab, that was certain. There were no sounds of computers and inventions running endlessly. He was also not in his capsule. Actually, he realized that he was laying down, probably on a bed. That felt weird to him because he wasn't used to lying down while sleeping. Judging by the sound of carpeting under the others' feet, he must be in a bedroom.

Adam was complaining again about something and the others were having trouble keeping him calmed down.

"But he's been asleep for _so long_ ," he moaned.

"Just be patient, Adam," Mr. Davenport responded. "That's how people heal; their bodies need to rest to store up energy."

"Can't he store up energy faster?"

"It doesn't work like that," Davenport said patiently.

"Why not?"

Chase groaned and tried to roll over, but it hurt too much. _Alright fine,_ he thought. _I'll wake up the rest of the way_. He slid his eyes slowly open and blinked quickly, trying to adjust to the sudden flood of light from the window.

* * *

"He's awake!" Leo exclaimed, getting the others' attention immediately.

"Alright!" Adam said happily.

Davenport hurried over to the bed and felt Chase's pulse. It was back to normal. "Good to see you awake again, buddy. How are you feeling?"

"Terrible," Chase groaned.

"Could you put that on a scale of 1 to 10 for me?"

Chase thought about it a minute and then replied, "Four, I guess. Mostly it's just my chest. And I have a headache."

"Well, the headache is from the recallibration we had to do to your bionic chip," Davenport told him. "It'll go away in a little while. As for the other injury, you can thank your brother for that one."

"Hey, this time it wasn't my fault," Adam said. "Although, I have to admit, I'm disappointed I wasn't around to see it happen."

Leo gave him a warning look before stepping closer to the bed. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Chase. You had us freaked out."

"How long was I asleep?" Chase asked.

"Almost two days," Davenport told him. "Do you remember anything from before?"

Chase tried to remember what events had led to him being here, but everything was rather vague in his memory. And he'd been out of it for so much of the time that he couldn't remember what events had really happened and which ones were just in his dreams. He finally shook his head. "I remember feeling sick after school on Friday. And then I think I was fighting with Adam and Bree for some reason. There was a warehouse, too. Was Marcus there, or was that a dream?"

"No, he was there," Leo said. "He tried to sick an android army on us; but once again the Davenports came out victorious." He looked so proud of himself. He was dying to tell Chase about how well he'd fought off the android soldiers, but he knew he should wait until later.

"We can fill you in on all the details after you're feeling a bit better," Davenport said. "In the meantime, you should rest. We don't want you to overdo it and then relapse." He motioned to the others to follow and then slipped out of the room with them right behind.

Bree hung back for a second and, after the others had left, turned towards Chase. She looked both relieved and concerned. "I'm glad you're feeling better," she said. "We were really scared when you wouldn't wake up."

"Sorry."

"Why didn't you tell us you weren't feeling well? We wouldn't have let you go to the warehouse if we'd known."

"That's why I didn't tell you guys. Mr. Davenport would have made me stay behind," Chase said. "Marcus might have taken control of you or Adam; or, worse, he might have killed you. I couldn't let that happen. You two are my family."

Bree smiled. "I know we aren't always the best family to you. But you know we care about you."

"I know. And thanks."

"Get some rest," Bree told him. "I'll see you later." She walked out of the room and pulled the door shut behind her. Chase was already drifting back to sleep.

* * *

Bree entered the lab with the idea of getting some well-earned rest. None of them had slept well since the whole mess started, and she was exhausted. But she was surprised to find, upon entering the room, that Douglas was seated at one of the desks working on one of his latest inventions.

"Hey," she said. "Chase just woke up. He's feeling better and Mr. Davenport said he's going to be okay now. Would you like to go up and see him?"

"Maybe later," Douglas murmured, not looking up from his work.

"Hey," Bree said quietly, getting his attention. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He tried to sound as casual as possible, but Bree knew him better than he thought.

"What's wrong?" she asked. She dragged a nearby chair over to the desk and sat down beside him. "Come on, I know something is bothering you."

Douglas looked at her and sighed. "I can't stop thinking about the warehouse. About Marcus."

"You had to destroy him," Bree said. "He was completely insane; there was no chance of talking him out of what he wanted to do."

"I know. But he was my responsibility. I made him, so it was my fault he tried to destroy all of you."

"It wasn't your fault," Bree told him. "We all thought he was dead. You had no way of knowing that he'd survived the explosion. And you should definitely not feel guilty after it was you who saved us from him."

"These last few days I just kept thinking about how it would be my fault if Chase didn't pull through alright. I didn't want to live with that feeling the rest of my life."

Bree smiled. "Are you trying to say that you actually _care_ about us?"

"I never said that," Douglas said quickly. "I was just... concerned."

Bree stood up and, leaning over, gave him a quick hug. He looked up at her in shock. "We care about you, too," she told him. "And I know you should definitely go talk to Chase as soon as he wakes up again; he's going to be worried about you. I don't think you realize just how much he looks up to you." She turned to leave the lab, but paused in the doorway for just a second. Hurrying back over to Douglas, she gave him one more hug while whispering, "Thanks, _Dad_." Then she super-speeded out of the room leaving a very surprised, and very happy, genius inventor at his desk.

* * *

"Hey, give me the remote," Adam yelled. He lunged forward to grab it, but Leo dodged around the coffee table real fast. "My cartoons are going to be starting any minute!"

"No way," Leo told him. "Janelle is coming over in a few minutes and we want to watch a movie. Why don't you just go throw things around for a while?"

"I could throw you around," Adam warned. "Let me have the remote."

Chase rolled his eyes from where he was sitting on the couch, doing his homework. But he wasn't quite as annoyed with his brothers as he normally would be. It'd been three weeks since the incident with Marcus and everything had long since gone back to normal - or, almost normal. Having come so close to losing his family for good made Chase realize just how much they meant to him.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Tasha working in the kitchen where she was trying desperately to make dinner turn out okay. So far, it didn't look very promising. Eddy was on the kitchen's wall monitor making comments about her failed attempts to fix the meal. Over in the dining room, Mr. Davenport and Douglas were arguing about who should get the most credit for their latest invention. On the opposite end of the couch from Chase, Bree was once again talking on her phone; she was holding one hand over her ear to block out her brothers' loud fight for the remote.

Yes, they might be a rather weird family - no, they were _definitely_ a weird family - but they were still family. It didn't matter that almost none of them were actually related by blood to each other, what mattered was that they were always willing to pull together in times of crises and protect each other no matter what.

Chase leaned back against the couch with a sigh.

"What's wrong?" Bree, who had finished her phone conversation, asked. "Everything okay?"

Chase looked around at the loud confusion one more time and than glanced back at her with a content smile. "Yeah," he said. "Everything's great."

* * *

 **A/N: Wow, I can't believe it's over! I hope this last chapter sounded okay. I'm not too good at doing final wrap-ups (is that a word?) for stories, but I hope that worked. At least the story title should make more sense by now.**

 **Huge thanks to everyone who has read, favorited, followed, reviewed this story! And an extra special thank you to Dirtkid123, BasketballQueen, LoveShipper, Asori, Deathstar5799, X-X-Midnight Star-X-X, Teeloganroryflan, PurpleNicole531, and Unknowndiva for their continued support throughout. Thanks also, daphrose, for giving me some great ideas for chapter 8.**

 **Thank you and bye for now!**


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